Communicating Effectively

For this blog assignment the same message was presented in three different modalities; email, voicemail, and face-to-face.  The assignment is to reflect upon all three and share similarities or differences in interpretation.

 Email

I found the email to be straightforward with a clear and concise message.  The needs are clearly identified with instructions on how to respond.  The message while formal and straight to the point is still in a personable manner without any negative undertones.

 Voicemail

The voicemail conveys the same message and is in a manner similar to the email, it is straight to the point and in a friendly tone.  The voice inflections are appropriate and stress key points in the same manner.

Face-to-face

The face-to-face video also results in a similar interpretation.  The message is delivered with a smile and non-threatening body language, and the facial expressions also help in stressing any important information.  But I thought it was a bit too relaxed for someone needing a report right away. 

In this scenario and in the way it was presented I preferred the email method of communication, and then the voicemail and the face-to-face video last.  Dr. Stolovitch in his video presents ways to communicate effectively and states that effective communication involves attitude, tone, body language, and is most effective when face-to-face with all parties involved “ (Stolovitch, 2012).  I think in many situations face-to-face can be a very effective way to communicate.  Not only are you hearing the message but can also see a person’s attitude and tone, and so have the opportunity to dynamically change the way the conversation is going if necessary.  In email this is harder to do, once the email has been written it cannot be changed.  So, it is important to be sure the email conveys a clear purpose in a diplomatic way that cannot be misunderstood or taken the wrong way, the email in this scenario accomplished that. The reason I preferred the email in this scenario is just because of the very relaxed nature of the video, for me it took away from the message.  As far as voicemails, in my experience they are not always acknowledged and can go unheard.  There is also the possibility of the message being inaudible and unclear, although that was not the case in the scenario.

Dr. Stolovitch suggests a strategy for communicating with project teams and to set the standards early on.  The recommendation is to discuss the frequency, format, and response times of meetings with the client.  Dr. Stolovitch reminds project managers that their responsibility is to remain diplomatic, keep the peace, and keep any communication clear and focused (Stolovitch, 2012). 

  

References:

Stolovitch, D. (2012). Communicating with Stakeholders. Laureate Education, Inc. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_551248_1%26url%3D

Learning from a Project “Post-mortem”

I work in the financial industry where there are an abundance of rules and regulations, and disclosure laws, so I am uncomfortable talking about anything work related.  So, for this assignment I am writing about a personal undertaking from years past. 

A long time ago two of my friends and I decided to leave home and plan a life without family, we were young and obviously not very thoughtful back then.   We started the planning for this move six months before we actually left; we were waiting until we were all 18 years of age.   

Our planning involved coordinating travel to Paris, we lived in England.  The travel plans incorporated local travel to get to a bus station, then taking a bus in to London, taking another bus to Dover (coast), and taking a hovercraft to France, then taking a train into Paris, and finally making our way to the hotel.  This may not seem so daunting, but to three inexperienced, naive, and not so independent young girls it was a lot to handle.  Besides the travel plans, we had to determine what personal items we would bring, the best time and day to leave without drawing attention, and allocate a budget for travel, personal expenses, meals, and more.

We had some success in planning the travel arrangements.  Back then none of us had computers or mobile phones as they were not as commonplace as they are now, so we could not conduct any research on our own.   We went to a travel agency where everything was coordinated for us.  I say some success because we did not visit more than one travel agency, so have no way of knowing if the cost was reasonable.  But we did know to contact and use the resource rather than trying to reserve multiple tickets ourselves.

Conducting the Post-mortem as recommended by The Project Management Minimalist:  Just enough PM to Rock Your Projects!

In comparing our planning and recommended best practices it is easy to see how this project did not succeed.

Phase 1 – Determine Need and Feasibility

We as the stakeholders decided there was a need to do this, affected parties were not advised.

We did not plan for any unknowns or have any contingency plans.

We did not even consider how much money we would need.

Phase 2 – Create Project Plan

Travel was coordinated but we did not plan for long term as in jobs, income, living expenses, education, language barriers, or even a long term roof over our heads. We just assumed it would all fall into place.

Project schedule was really non-existent; it only covered the first week.

Phase 3 – Create Specifications for Deliverables

We did not assign each other tasks such as responsibility for budgeting or finding a place to live.

We did not have any responsibilities assigned to look for jobs.

Phase 4 – Create Deliverables

Since we were not actively assigning tasks there were no tasks to track or to communicate.

Since we did not plan for constraints or managing risks, we did not know how to react to problems when they arose.

Phase 5 – Test and Implement Deliverables

Without proper planning and without having any strategies or techniques defined a project cannot be effective.  We ran out of money, had nowhere to live and no projected income because of the lack of planning.

Planning for this project should have included more brainstorming sessions during the initial discussions to identify all that would need to be considered, and to have workarounds for issues that could have been thought of.  Budgets should have been prepared and expenses realized.  We did not have the knowledge back then to document or track progress but best practices now suggest using artifacts to make projects more successful, artifacts that would have been beneficial in this project are:

Responsibility / Accountability Matrix

Work Breakdown Structure

Resource and Cost Estimates

Project Schedule with Timelines

More Communication

Reference:

Greer, M. (2010). The Project Management Minimalist: Just Enough PM to Rock Your Projects! Laureate Education, Inc. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/bbcswebdav/institution/USW1/201260_02/MS_INDT/EDUC_6145/Week%202/Resources/Week%202%20Resources/embedded/pm-minimalist-ver-3-laureate.pdf